Dubliners Survey the Damage Caused by the Easter Uprising Ca. 1916

On Easter Sunday, April 24, 1916, Irish nationalists Patrick Pearse and James Connolly along with a 1,500 member volunteer Irish army occupied the mostly empty Dublin General Post Office and declared Irish independence from Great Britain. In response the British sailed 20,000 troops to Dublin and mercilessly shelled the post office, reducing much of the building to rubble. On April 29 Pearse unconditionally surrendered; the British general Sir John Maxwell ordered the execution of Pearse, Connolly, and 13 other rebel leaders. The rebellion had been deeply unpopular in Dublin until the executions, after which many Dubliners rallied for Irish independence. This Easter Uprising and subsequent martyrdom of its instigators marked the beginning of the Anglo-Irish Civil War.